Juvenile Sex Offenders

Introduction
Who are adolescent sex offenders? In its basic and most simple form adolescent sex offenders could be defined as any juvenile male or female, approximately between the ages of 12 and 17 years of age who commit any sexual act with another person, unlawfully against that persons will, regardless of age limit. Research has suggested that adolescent sexual offenders are also embedded in multiple systems (family, peer, school) in which dysfunctional transactions are rather evident. There is also a general consensus that adolescent sexual offenders have difficulty maintaining close interpersonal relations and are isolated from their peers. Finally, a relatively high percentage of adolescent sexual offenders evidence behavioral
The first juvenile sex offender treatment program was developed the 1975, with most structured programs not emerging until the 1980s. By the late 1980s, the National Task Force on Juvenile Sexual Offending (1988) urged mandatory treatment policies for juvenile sex offenders in an effort to prevent recidivism. By 1992, a North American survey identified over 750 outpatient and residential juvenile sexual offender treatment programs. (Reitzel, 2006, p. 402). Until the 1980s, adolescent sexual offenders received little attention in the research literature. Their behavior was often explained as normal experimentation or developmental curiosity, and the focus of investigation of deviant sexual behavior was on adult sexual offenders. However, crime reports and surveys have indicated that adolescents are responsible for about 20% of rapes and 30% to 50% of cases of child sexual abuse. (Veneziano, 2000, p. 363). Few studies have focused specifically on recidivism rates of these young offenders, and even fewer studies focused on re-arrests during more than one developmental stage of life. Also, much of this research has been limited to relatively small sample sizes, with most studies relying on samples of fewer than 150. (Vandiver, 2006, p. 675). The research on juvenile sexual offender recidivism vary widely in terms of sample size, statistical methodology, length of follow-up, type and intensity of treatment, as well as how recidivism is defined. Recidivism has been defined by various methods including self-reports, criminal charges, convictions and adult incarceration. The lack of consistency among studies makes it difficult to generalize the results of a particular study to the general population of juvenile sex offenders. Within these limitations, an overall picture still consistently emerges that supports the